Shadow over the Pacific: An (Axis) Australian AAR

[TehDarkMiner]

[Introduction]

Since I really got into Hearts of Iron 3, several months ago, I've read quite a few AARs, and I'd like to make one myself. But I'm pretty new to them. This one is really just for practise, and I don't plan on adding fancy graphics or anything special in this one (though if I make another one, which I hope I will, I'll definitely add them), but I still hope to make this interesting nonetheless. Also, this one will be vanilla (and the future one, probably HPP with a few graphical and map upgrades too). I'll try to justify any decisions I make along the way, too.

Anyway, I wanted something a little different. So I chose my own country: Australia. Starting 1936, and with every expansion but TFH.
And sure, I could fight off the Japanese, and desperately hang on while the USA or some other ally comes to my rescue, but I thought, no! I will JOIN FORCES with the Japanese! Together, we will fight off the Americans, and any other nations foolish enough to stand against us!
Australia shall take its place as the rightful ruler of the pacific islands!


I'll update when I get the chance (hopefully every few days).

Each game year, I will give a summary of what had happened through dialogue of the ministers. The rest of it will be presented through first person, mainly 'we did this' style.
If you're at all interested, stay tuned! Things are going to get very interesting.


And I like titling everything. Just makes it neater.




[Table of Contents]
[1936]
Plans for the Future
The Battle Plans
Preparing for War
1937
Slowly Building Our Army
1938
Operation Ruby (invasion of New Zealand)
Operation Topaz (invasion of Siam)

 

[TehDarkMiner]

[1st of January, 1936]
[Plans for the Future]
The government was silent that day. Joseph Lyons, the Prime Minister, had announced his plan. Through propaganda and stirring speeches over the last few years, the people of Australia had already turned away from their former allies, like New Zealand, the UK, and the Commonwealth, and although not convinced to go to war, they now looked at these nations with dislike, even hate. This was all going well for Lyons.
The Prime Minister walked over to John Lavarack, the Chief of the Army, and told him to begin building an army to conquer the Pacific.
With a sigh, Lavarack poured over the statistics. He carefully considered the advantages and disadvantages of each type of brigade. Eventually, he turned back to the Prime Minister.
'We will need garrisons to defend our land and islands, for they are cheap, and rather powerful for their cost. We will use infantry to invade any larger countries, and we will use marines to invade islands. A navy is essential, also. We must keep those Americans back from the mainland at all costs.', Lavarack decided.

Joseph Lyons decided it was time to get the public ready for the imminent war.

Production begins! Lavarack will soon be able to look at his army with pride!



The Prime Minister paused for a second. 'Mr. Lavarack, what about our technology? We need that!' he cried.
'Prime Minister, I believe we should focus on squeezing every last bit of our factories' output, along with reducing men needed on farms, so they can instead fight. Then, we should focus on our garrisons and our infantry. We won't research hard attacks for them - I highly doubt our enemies would put tanks on low infrastructure islands with easily raided convoys. But, we need to get our infantry hard attack just a little higher, to get our marines!' said the Chief of the Army, without even taking a breath, 'we'll get some people working on training officers for our armies, we can't get many spies because they're too expensive for us, and we will rarely need diplomacy.'.

Suddenly, hundreds of people began research. Australia might even have technology to rival the stronger nations soon.



John Lavarack thought for a moment. He wondered if Australia itself was prepared against an attack. He thought he could ignore deploying any men on the mainland, and using them for the invasion of the Pacific. His hopes vanished.

'WHAT?' he yelled, 'LESS THAN TWENTY THOUSAND MEN? HOW CAN WE ATTACK THE ISLANDS IF WE CAN'T DEFEND OUR OWN BORDERS?'
The Prime Minister, shocked by the sudden shouting, jumped in his chair. 'You're right, we need some better defence here. We'll have to deploy our garrisons here, before using them to defend the captured islands. But for now, we must make sure that Japan and us become strong allies. They will probably join the Axis, so we shall align there.'

And it was so.



All eyes turn to the pacific, when Australia and Japan unleash their combined power. Will the United States be strong enough to fend off such an alliance? Will Australia take the islands, New Zealand, Indonesia and maybe even South America? The future of millions of people, and hundreds of islands, lies in the hands of one country.



Any comments are more than welcome! Please, say if you like my style or not, if you'll continue with this, and why!

 

[MN121MN]

Boy, that escalated quickly.

 

[TehDarkMiner]

Well, Australia will waste no time getting into the Axis (with a nice little thing that I can declare war on my enemies much quicker!).

Also I bought TFH just earlier, so I'll continue this in TFH instead. The ability to show my plans will be helpful for my invasions

 

[red_KLG]

Well, Australia will waste no time getting into the Axis (with a nice little thing that I can declare war on my enemies much quicker!).

Also I bought TFH just earlier, so I'll continue this in TFH instead. The ability to show my plans will be helpful for my invasions

TFH will make your life much easier. Japan will be much better so you can create a buffer from the US based on the little islands without needing to waste precious MP in garissons (which won't help you anyways if US lands a CV doomstack outside your port).

Also a little GCM magic will do wonders... concentrate ports in 3 provinces so you can easily defend them, scrap AA and other useless staff and prepare your techs for the style you want to follow. Also get peterhoi3 fix if you want a challenge

 

[TehDarkMiner]

TFH will make your life much easier. Japan will be much better so you can create a buffer from the US based on the little islands without needing to waste precious MP in garissons (which won't help you anyways if US lands a CV doomstack outside your port).

Will they? Well, I'm (obviously) new to TFH, so I didn't know how Japan has changed
Well, I'll probably not worry about getting that many garrisons then. I'll probably keep a couple on the mainland, just in case
(sure, against a larger attack I may not be able to win, but if the USA sends just a few divisions, I'll be able to stop them. And I imagine it's entirely possible for the UK to attack me, from Singapore.

As form GCM (I think you mean CGM? ), I might do so for the next AAR I do (though it won't be Australia. Probably Italy, Germany or Nat. China.). Not this one though.
As for that peterhoi3 fix, well, I want to play this one without any mods. But I'll keep that one in mind!

Thanks you for the feedback

 

[red_KLG]

Will they? Well, I'm (obviously) new to TFH, so I didn't know how Japan has changed
Well, I'll probably not worry about getting that many garrisons then. I'll probably keep a couple on the mainland, just in case
(sure, against a larger attack I may not be able to win, but if the USA sends just a few divisions, I'll be able to stop them. And I imagine it's entirely possible for the UK to attack me, from Singapore.

Japan gets tuned up. Nearly every TFH game has Japan deep in India by 42 after they get the Chinese coast. Also Japan invades AUS, always. So they ll focus elsewhere and let you a nice buffer, against the US

As form GCM (I think you mean CGM? ), I might do so for the next AAR I do (though it won't be Australia. Probably Italy, Germany or Nat. China.). Not this one though.
As for that peterhoi3 fix, well, I want to play this one without any mods. But I'll keep that one in mind!

Thanks you for the feedback

CGM yes xD Well using them with majors creates unbalanced games although it is super fun to explore different elements of the game and customizing a major gives you this option. But for minors it is really important to sort out useless techs and even better lower neutrality to 70%. This with the "prepare for war" will allow you to start your peripheral wars when Germany decides Anschluss.

FYI peterhoi3 is not a mod. Technically, its a fix for the horrible US AI, among other fixes. Given that in TFH Japan kicks ass, the last thing you need is a silly USA... and they are way to silly without that fix

 

[TehDarkMiner]

Oh, is it? Alright then, I guess I'll download that then.

CGM yes xD Well using them with majors creates unbalanced games although it is super fun to explore different elements of the game and customizing a major gives you this option. But for minors it is really important to sort out useless techs and even better lower neutrality to 70%. This with the "prepare for war" will allow you to start your peripheral wars when Germany decides Anschluss.

That's true. Though I've already started and I don't know, it just doesn't feel right to me for some reason.

Thank you

 

[TehDarkMiner]

Alright, well I think I have the basics of some of the new TFH features, like the battle plans. Not completely competent yet, but I can show you what I will do:

[1st of January 1936]
[The Battle Plans]

Our naming convention for operations, is just name the operation after a gemstone like ruby or diamond. I don't know if there's an actual specific way of naming them, but I like it as this anyway.


Our great armies need some battle plans for the future! For now, let's focus on just the resource-rich areas of the Pacific.

Operation Emerald will deal mainly with British-held territories.

Operation Sapphire will deal with Indonesia (the part of Indonesia connected to Australia has no good resources, and I won't focus on it).

Operation Ruby will take New Zealand's four VP provinces quickly, and without major loss of men.


When first possible, we will take New Zealand. Hopefully they won't be under the banner of the Allies. When the mainland Netherlands is fallen, we will strike quickly and take the oil rich islands. Complete with a refinery.




Any comments are more than welcome! Please mention anything you dislike, or like. Things will soon pick up.

 

[sebas379]

Looks like a few sensible plans. Strike quickly and everywhere, don't give them a chance to react. I like it.
(by everywhere I don't mean all 3 plans at once ofc, but everywhere on the target being attacked
Do note the infrastructure on the islands is hobbirle and you cannot march across them, you'll have to invade a city, embark, sail around and take the other city, especially in the DEI.

 

[TehDarkMiner]

by everywhere I don't mean all 3 plans at once ofc,

Of course

Do note the infrastructure on the islands is hobbirle and you cannot march across them, you'll have to invade a city, embark, sail around and take the other city, especially in the DEI.

Ah, I forgot about infrastructure on the islands! I'll get as far as the game will allow me through my current plans. Any other provinces protected by lack of infrastructure, I'll quickly take by a few infantry units. They won't have much defence.

 

[Gen. Marshall]

You should be able to proceed with your plans in general - only on Sumatra you will have to assign additional landing zones, and on Borneo you won't be able to march inland.

 

[red_KLG]

Yeap, just don't forget to set your war target to conquer or even better to acquire region (if there is any relevant region) once Germany calls you to war / or war is declared on you, so you can take all the area not occupied by Germany.

 

[Belgiumruler]

Love it! Try to take the Britisch and American Basis of Fiji and Samoa fast, you need to take the southern Paficic fast if you want to defend your homeland.

 

[TehDarkMiner]

You should be able to proceed with your plans in general - only on Sumatra you will have to assign additional landing zones, and on Borneo you won't be able to march inland.

Well, that should be good then. I'll mop up those places afterwards though (won't have enough transports for all of that).

Yeap, just don't forget to set your war target to conquer or even better to acquire region (if there is any relevant region) once Germany calls you to war / or war is declared on you, so you can take all the area not occupied by Germany.

Definitely. I might have to set it to conquer, I don't think there are regions for the islands (though I may be wrong). There's one for the Dutch-controlled area, one for the US, Borneo and Singapore. Some of the islands don't have anything though. I'll find a way past that later, I guess.

Love it! Try to take the Britisch and American Basis of Fiji and Samoa fast, you need to take the southern Paficic fast if you want to defend your homeland.

I definitely will
They won't be able to get far without a port to attack me from!

Thank you everyone for your comments!
I'll probably update later on today.

 

[TehDarkMiner]

[1936]
[Preparing for War]

With a 3-brigade garrison placed in Townsville (a VP and a port), we're starting to get a little defence built up. All corps have been removed - units are directly under the command of the Theatre HQs. I know this means I lose the bonuses that the corps, armies, and army groups give, but we must conserve our man power. There's no point having a proper OOB for the mainland (and it probably will never be attacked, if our plans turn out as hoped).

Soon after, it seems we're ready for some changes in our laws. A three year draft sounds pretty good.

Now our factories are working at a good capacity, and we're getting more resources too!

Well, this is most interesting. Perhaps Germany or the UK could use this to their advantage? Maybe Franco will win, and give Germany an ally on the other side of France?

So far, half way through the year, we've finally gotten our factories running smoothly. As for our Rare Materials loss, which can be seen (it's about -2 a day), when we take Indonesia (which is full of Rare Materials), that will not be an issue. Trading should lessen our rate of decline until we can attack.

 

[TehDarkMiner]

[1937]
[Slowly building our army]

Not very much has happened over the course of one year. It's now almost June 1937, and although some infantry divisions have come, and some transports are ready, we really haven't done much.

Here's all we've obtained. A few infantry divisions, and a group of transports.

All our beautiful transports built so far. Menacing, isn't it? We'll be able to invade the Soviet Union with this devastating flotilla!


But we have marines in production now!

If I attack each island individually, 3 divisions will be enough. Somehow, though, I doubt it.




Does anybody know how to make a table of contents? At least, how to link to specific posts?

 

[Ikarases]

I caught up on this AAR in 10 minutes!

It looks interesting. And I also see you´re trying to scale pictures, but some of them are still pixelated while others are perfectly sharp. For your own good, I suggest you either doing it properly, or not doing it at all

Does anybody know how to make a table of contents? At least, how to link to specific posts?

Look at any of the posts here and note the "#14" etc. in the post´s upper right corner. Click it and then copy the link from it (you´ll see the page loads right onto it) and you can make a table of contents!

 

[Jagdpnzr]

Very fun AAR. Keep up the good work

 

[TehDarkMiner]

And I also see you´re trying to scale pictures, but some of them are still pixelated while others are perfectly sharp. For your own good, I suggest you either doing it properly, or not doing it at all

Yeah, you're probably right.

Look at any of the posts here and note the "#14" etc. in the post´s upper right corner. Click it and then copy the link from it (you´ll see the page loads right onto it) and you can make a table of contents!

Thanks

Very fun AAR. Keep up the good work

Thank you

I'll get an update out tomorrow or possibly later tonight. I think I'm understanding most of the new features of TFH now, anyway. The ways battles work, new ships, etc.